An Inspector Calls and Other Plays (Penguin Modern Classics)

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Birling: Yes, my dear, I know – I’m talking too much. But you youngsters just remember what I Said. We can't let these Bernard Shaws and H.G.Wellses do all the talking . We hard-headed practical business men must say something sometime. And we don't guess – we've had experience - and we know. Inspector: This young women, Eva Smith, was out of the ordinary . I found a photograph of her in her lodgings. Perhaps you'd remember her from that.

Birling: Oh well – put like that, there's something in what you say. Still, I can't accept any responsibility. If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we'd had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn't it? Arthur Birling : Giving us the port, Edna ? That’s right. ( he pushes it towards Eric .) You ought to like this port, Gerald, as a matter of fact, Finchley told me it's exactly the same port your father gets from him.

Birling: (solemnly) But this is the point. I don't want to lecture you, two young fellows, again. But what so many of you don't seem to understand now, when things are so much easier, is that a man has to make his own way – has to look after himself – and his family too, of course , when he has one – and so long as he does that he won't come to much harm. But the way some of these cranks talk and write now, you'd think everybody has to look after everybody else as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive – community and all that nonsense. But take my word for it, you youngsters – and I’ve learned in the good hard school of experience – that a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own – and - Birling: (angrily) Inspector, I've told you before, I don't like the tone nor the way you're handling this inquiry. And I don't propose to give you much rope. Gerald: (smiling) Wouldn't dream of it. In fact, I insist upon being one of the family now. I've been trying long enough , haven't I ? (as she does not reply , with more insistence. ) Haven't I? You know I have. Gerald: yes. I asked her questions about herself. She told me her name was Daisy Renton, that she'd lost both parents, that she came originally from somewhere outside Brumley. She also told me she'd had a job in one of the works here and had had to leave after a strike. She said something about the shop too, but wouldn't say which it was, and she was deliberately vague about what happened. I couldn't get any exact details from her about herself – just because she felt I was interested and friendly – but at the same time she wanted to be daisy renton – and not eva smith.

Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part Arrived promptly ready for the start of the new term; could not fault the product or service." E Hughes, English Teacher at Abertillery Comprehensive 15 July 2014 Mrs Birling: Eric? Oh – I'm afraid he may have had rather too much to drink tonight . We were having a little celebration here-- Gerald: no. I wasn't telling you a complete lie when I said i'd been very busy at the works all that time. We were very busy. But of course I did see a good deal of her.Mrs Birling: please don't contradict me like that. And in any case I don't suppose for a moment that we can understand why the girl committed suicide. Girls of that class-- Birling: Yes, my dear, I know – I’m talking too much. But you youngsters just remember what I said. We can't let these Bernard Shaws and H.G.Wellses do all the talking. We hard-headed practical business men must say something sometime . And we don't guess – we've had experience - and we know. Gerald: So if that's the only obstacle, sir, I think you might as well accept my congratulations now. Birling: Perhaps I ought to warn you that he's an old friend of mine, and that I see him fairly frequently. We play golf together sometimes up at the west brumley.

Inspector: And so you used the power you had, as a daughter of a good customer and also of a man well known in the town, to punish the girl just because she made you feel like that?Inspector: ( very deliberately ) I think you did something terribly wrong – and that you're going to spend the rest of your life regretting it . I wish you'd been with me tonight in the infirmary. You'd have seen- Gerald: I didn't propose to stay long down there. I hate those hard-eyed dough-faced women. But then I noticed a girl who looked quite different . She was very pretty – soft brown hair and big dark eyes- (breaks off.) My god! The young girl who allegorically represents the working class in a capitalist society; she doesn't have any lines in the play. All Birling characters behaved in ways that completely altered her life for the worst, culminating in her suicide by drinking some strong disinfectant. The inspector reads her diary before interrogating the Birlings. She is described as being young and pretty, with dark eyes. She also changes her name from Eva Smith to Daisy Renton. An Inspector Calls at Lyttelton Theatre 1992-1993". www.abouttheartists.com . Retrieved 20 January 2023.